<< How common (in Orlanthi society) is membership in multiple cults?>>
Assuming you mean 'initiation, my own opinion is given at members.aol.com/ttrotsky/torkani/gods.htm. Although it should be noted that this was written before 'pantheon initiation' became a hot topic. At any rate, I think the answer is 'quite common, but in such cases, one of the cults is virtually certain to be either Orlanth (if you're a bloke) or Ernalda (if not).'
Generally speaking, Orlanthi are never initiated into more than three cults.
<< And specifically how common is membership in the Orlanth religion?>>
All adult Orlanthi are initiated into the 'cult of Orlanth & Ernalda', which is the HW way of saying that they are lay members of Orlanth (if male) or Ernalda (if female) and their 'subordinate' deities. Most adult men are initiated into one of the Orlanth cults (if one includes Barntar as being 'Orlanth the Farmer'). Full-blown devotees of Orlanth are probably somewhat rarer, but still more common than devotees of any other male religion.
<< The reasons I ask are multiple. From RQII (which I've never played, but
own), it seems clear that the majority of new PCs would be lay members of a
cult. Since being a lay member requires minimal time and monetary effort, it
seems likely you could easily be a lay member of multiple cults (and indeed
the Issaries trader claims to be a lay member of the Earth Mother cult at one
point).>>
This would now be the 'pantheon initiation' mentioned above.
<< RQIII changed this; we find out that people join a cult as an initiate,
apparently as part of their adulthood ceremony. So lay members are now so
ineffectual that they aren't really covered to any great degree in RQIII.>>
People who are pantheon initiates (aka 'lay members') and not initiated to any more specific cult are still a bit crap under the new rules. You need to be a proper initiate to get the decent magic and access to the Other Side.
<< Is it the same for Orlanthi? That is, would non-membership in the Orlanth
cult be regarded as suspect in Orlanthi society? >>
Not even being a pantheon initiate is another way of saying you're still a child, and you'll be treated as such, regardless of your chronological age. Female Orlanthi, of course, are initiated into the female side of the pantheon, headed by Ernalda. Women can't be initiated into the cult of Orlanth, although the powerful ones may get access to some of Orlanth's magic - - this was still undecided last time I talked to Greg about it.
<<In other words, would most (say) Chalana Array, Issaries or Llankhor Mhy
initiates also be initiates of Orlanth? >>
In my RQ campaign they were. In HW, they don't really need to be since there's pantheon initiation. Even so, I suspect many of them are. So long as they're men, obviously.
<<(I can see Humakti being sufficiently strange that they wouldn't be, but
the Lightbringer cults are fairly closely associated with Orlanth. In fact,
that brings up a secondary point - given that Humakt severed his Storm dies
in GodTime, are Humakt initiates even ALLOWED to join Storm cults? Assuming,
of course, we're not talking about Illuminates).>>
In my campaign, they aren't allowed to be initiated into any other cults. Lay membership/pantheon initiation is OK, though.
Forward the glorious Red Army!
Trotsky
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